Cascading card holder

ABSTRACT

A system for the vertical display of information provided on a plurality of cards or similar display members includes an extended heads on each display member. The extended heads are supported on each side by a pair of parallel slideways. Each slideway includes a plurality of vertical supports spaced therealong and paired with a support on the other slideway. Thus, a respective pair of supports serves to support an extended head of a display member and a series of display members so supported is created. A cascading mechanism is also provided for sequentially moving each display member in a cascade to a lower pair of supports when a new display member is introduced into the pair of slideways.

The present invention relates to the fields;

of card indexes and plannings with vertical classification columns;

display tables with a cascading operation

In known devices in the field of card indexes and plannings displayed inadjacent vertical columns, the elements to be displayed called cards areintroduced one above the other in superimposed slots. They are held inposition by a wider head part bearing on the ends of the slots (cardindex with stubs).

If it is desired to insert a new card in a filled column in order tofree a slot it is necessary beforehand to manually move a notch and oneby one all those situated below or above the one chosen.

In other up-datable card index models, independent elements support thesame stub cards. They are stacked one above the other in verticalslideways.

To remove an element from a column it is necessary with one hand toraise the stack situated above and with the other remove the carrierelement, leaving an empty space which will be immediately reoccupied bythe descent of the elements above.

For inserting a new element with one hand the stack above must be raisedand with the other the new element introduced.

The change of position of the card requires each time these twosuccessive handling operations. In a card index with a cascadingoperation these frequent handling operations are slow and tiresome.

The device of the invention allows these drawbacks in different fieldsto be remedied.

In that of frequently evolutive card indexes modifying theclassification of the card displayed.

In work control, delivery, etc schedules which are organized as theorders of commands arrive. The documents: work vouchers, deliveryvouchers, able to be displayed and made mobile and their order easilybrought up to date.

It brings new possibilities in the field of remotely visible panels withclassification display modified by successive sequences. Individualsporting test results, for example.

It may also find an interest in number and letter handling games.

Generally, the device of the invention is characterized in that it isformed of two sorts of distinct elements, namely:

independent and mobile elements to be displayed and fixed elements whichmay be called slideways supporting the first ones.

Different variants concerning these elements and relating to the presentinvention provide adaptation to the field of use and to the particularapplication requirements.

The fixed elements are generally formed of vertical or inclined strips,forming a slideway having a bottom and two flanges, which may be calledslideways.

According to the application these slideways may be permanently fixedand adjacent so as to form a wall mounted holder or display table.

They may also be independent, or belong to the same support on whichthey are hooked while remaining movable, which allows their position tobe modified with respect to each other.

These slideways serve both as guide and as support for the mobileelements. For this, the slideway flanges have projections called teeth,pegs or spurs. They are disposed one below the other, the spacing of thesupports determining the displayed width of the elements which are therepositioned.

The mobile elements are formed:

of a flat surface intended to receive the inscriptions. They will remaindisplayed in the upper part and hidden for the part introduced behindthe element positioned below.

The inscriptions may be written on the surface itself provided that itis readily erasable so as to ensure the continual reutilization of theelement, or be written on independent supports applied to the flatsurface, or adhesive, or clipped at the top, or retained by slidesintegral with this element.

When they are carried by vertical slideways, the upper part of thesurface of these elements is notched below the head so as to allow thislatter to move away without being retained by the spur which was guidedit up to this support. Which is not necessary when the slide ways areinclined, since they do not have any spur.

Of a head which may either be formed from the same material as the fixedpart or be an added and secured piece. This head allowing the mobileelement to bear on two pegs, spurs or teeth of the same level and whoseessential characteristics obtained by the form which is given are:

that if the head is moved away from the bottom of the slideway the fallof the element is caused as far as the pegs situated below.

that if it is already an element positioned thereon the head meeting theone below which it moves aside for reaching the supports on which itwill stop and causes the fall of the element which is situated there.

According to the essential characteristic of the invention, when , in acolumn of superimposed elements, one is added at the head or one isinserted between two others in this column, the added element will moveaside the head of the one below which will cause its fall. This latterwill in its turn cause the fall of the next one and so one, all thecards situated below will thus descend automatically one notch incascade, until they find an available position.

According to another characteristic of the invention, if the columnreaches the lowest position, the last element moved aside will leave thelast supports and will fall into a receptacle; this receptacle maycontain several mobile elements and also serve as reserve for otheravailable.

In the description which follows the elements to be displayed which maybe, depending on the field of application, cards, documents, tables,charts, etc. will be systematically called cards.

In a first variant the device is characterized by slideways whoseprojections are formed by teeth cut out from its flanges. In thisvariant the cards are of the stub or laterally extended head type, theside edges of the head bearing on the teeth. These cards are furthereasily remountable by causing them to slide manually from one tooth toanother by simple upward pressure. In this arrangement the slidewaysmust be moved apart at the foot so that the moving cards fall by gravityonto the teeth below.

According to a characteristic added to this device, for obtaining thesame result with perfectly vertical slideways, the flanges of thetoothed slideways further have spurs preventing the cards from beingejected from the vertical slideway when their head is moved awaytherefrom and guide them to the next support. The cards must thencomprise under the head two notches allowing them to escape from thespurs so as to begin their next movement.

According to a new characteristic varying with the preceding one theteeth comprise a horizontal part forming a peg, serving both forsupporting and guide for the cards, thus replacing the spur required inthe preceding construction. In a variant concerning the cards (or mobileelements of another application) their head has a clip for supporting anindependent element to be displayed. For this, the head may be formed soas to constitute an ovalized and longitudinally open tube for freeing alip forming a clip, another tube also ovalized contained in the firstone is secured to a handle extending forwardly. Its operation causesrotation of the inner tube and raising of the clip forming lip underwhich the document is introduced, it will be sufficient to bring thehandle back to its first position for it to be clipped there.

In a second variant the device is characterized by slideways whoseprojections are formed by spurs supported by the flanges, these spursserving both as support and guide for the cards; and by cards whose headof the same width as the flat part slides entirely between the flanges.The head of the cards comprises a practically horizontal surface whichbears on the spurs, which surface is slightly inclined rearwardly forbetter ensuring its support and a surface inclined reversely to thefirst one whose role is to move aside the card head which it will meet;two lateral notches at the ends of this surface allow it to avoid, atthe end of falling, the spurs on which the first surface will come tobear. In this device, the holes intended for the spurs may be superabundant and at regular intervals, and the spurs readily movable so asto allow the user himself to choose the spacing of the supports, so ofthe displayed surface of the positioned cards and even to vary thespacing in the same slideway.

The different devices forming the object of this description comprisingfixed slideways and mobile elements forming together a module may maytake on different forms of presentation; either as independent modules,or as a succession of fixed adjacent modules grouped in a table, orseveral removable modules fastened to the same support on which they areeasily removable.

This possibly allows adaptation to the different utilisations and to thedifferent fields of application.

The device of the invention is represented by the following drawings,giving the construction of two variants forming the object of thedescription, applicable to cascading card indexes.

FIG. 1 shows an independent module, of the toothed type, carrying cardswith an extending head.

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectionof the module.

FIG. 3 shows peg teeth.

FIG. 4 is a horizontal section of this module.

FIG. 5 is a section showing the action of the moving cards.

FIG. 6 shows a card.

FIG. 7 shows a card of the same type with a clip.

FIG. 8 is a vertical section of the clip carrying head.

FIG. 9 shows a holder or table formed of spur modules supporting cardswithout border.

FIG. 10 is a horizontal section of this holder or table.

FIG. 11 shows a card of constant width.

FIG. 12 is a vertical section of a module of the holder or table shownin FIG. 9 showing the action of the moving cards.

FIG. 1 shows a module having teeth 1 cut out from the flanges 5 of theslideway; the card 3 bear on the teeth by the edges of the laterallyextended part forming their head. The module is shown in a verticalposition which requires the spurs 2 preventing the cards from beingejected from the slideways during their movements.

FIG. 2 shows the slideway in horizontal section.

FIG. 6 shows the cards suitable for this use. They comprise a head withan extended part 10, two notches 6 allowing them to be disengaged fromtheir support when escaping from the spurs, and a flat surface intendedto receive the inscriptions 7.

This module may also be used in an inclined position. In this case, thespurs 2 of the slideways and the notches 6 of the cards are useless, themoved card fall naturally back onto the teeth by gravity.

FIG. 3 is a variant of the teeth of FIG. 1 in that each tooth has a peg4 projecting inwardly of the slideway (see FIG. 4 section BB). Thesepegs have both the function of supporting the reglets and of guiding themoving cards, thus replacing the spurs.

The same cards shown in FIG. 6 are suitable for this use.

FIG. 5 shows, in a vertical section of the module of FIG. 3, the dynamicprogress of the cards; the cards 3 are seen there in the staticposition, then a card 8 during the downward movement guided by the edgeof pegs 4 and whose head at the end of falling moves that of card 9.This latter will be moved off its pegs 4 causing it to fall in its turn,guided by the pegs 4 of the next tooth, which thus prevents it frombeing ejected outside the slideway. The dynamic progress is started, thefalling card 9 will in its turn cause that of the next one by a spaceand so one, in cascade, of all those situated below.

FIG. 7 shows a card with strip whose variant with respect to that ofFIG. 6 consists in its possibility of clipping a document to bedisplayed against its flat face. In this example, the clip is formed byan ovalized rod 12 contained in the median part of the reglet 10integral with the handle 11.

FIG. 8 is a section CC of FIG. 7 showing the device constructed. Thehead is partly of an ovalized tubular shape, open longitudinally in itsmedian part for freeing the lip 13. Operation of the handle 11 causingrod 12 to pivot causes the moving aside or lowering of the lip intendedto clip the introduced document.

This type of toothed construction allows easy raising of the cards by asimple upward manual pressure.

FIG. 9 shows a table formed of modules relating to the second variantdescribed. In this construction the slideways are formed by verticalstrips assembled together so as to form bottoms 14 and the slidewayborders 15. The borders support spurs 16 which will serve both forsupporting the cards 17 and as guides for preventing them from beingejected outside the slideways during their movements.

FIG. 10 is a horizontal section of the device showing a means ofconstructing this adjacent module table.

FIG. 11 shows a card of continuous width having a flat surface 18intended for the inscriptions, a surface 19 close to the horizontal andslanted slightly rearwardly through a certain angle 22 for bearing onthe spurs 16; another surface 20 joining the two preceding ones 18 and19 inclined by a certain angle 23 for moving aside the card behind whichit slides during its fall, and of reduced width so as to form twonotches 21 allowing it at the end of falling to avoid the spurs 16 onwhich the surface 19 will bear.

FIG. 12 shows the dynamic process of the invention identical to thatdescribed above; namely a card 25 falls while sliding behind the card26. The head of the first one at the end of falling moving aside thatbelow, causing the following ones to fall in cascade. The card situatedon the lowest pegs will finish its fall in the receptacle 24 situated atthe lower part of the slideway.

In the device shown in FIG. 9 the flanges of the slideways are providedwith numerous closely spaced holes for receiving the spurs; since theselatter are removable the user may choose or modify the spacing of thesupports by placing or moving the spurs 16.

I claim:
 1. A system for a vertical display of various informationcomprising:a plurality of display members, each said display memberincluding a top edge, opposite side edges, a flat display surface for aninformation, and a member support means provided at the top edge of saiddisplay member for supporting said display member, said member supportmeans including an elongated head extending at least along the entirelength of the top edge of said display member and having a head end ateach end of said elongated head; a pair of parallel slideways, each sideslideway including (a) a retaining means for retaining a respective sideedge of said display member adjacent thereto and (b) a series ofsupports vertically spaced along each said slideway, each said supportof one said slideway forming one of a paired set of supports with a saidsupport on the other side sideway such that on a respective paired setof supports respective said head ends of each said display member restto support said display member and such that a plurality of said displaymembers are individually supported one below another along said pair ofslideways by respective said paired sets of supports and retainedtherein by said retaining means; and a cascading means for sequentiallymoving each said display member in a cascade to a lower adjacent set ofsupports when a new display member is introduced into said pair ofslideways.
 2. A system for the vertical display of information asclaimed in claim 1 wherein said cascading means includes an inclinedsurface adjacent each said head for pushing said head of a loweradjacent said display member off of the associatged set of supports whensaid inclined surface is lowered into contact therewith.
 3. A system forthe vertical display of information as claimed in claim 2 wherein eachsaid slideway is formed as a toothed rack, each said rack having teethand each said tooth being provided with a substantially horizontal edgeforming a said support and a bevelled lower edge joined to saidsubstantially horizontal edge of an adjacent underlying said tooth.
 4. Asystem for the vertical display of information as claimed in claim 3wherein each toothed rack has an inner face adjacent said side edges ofsaid display members; wherein said retaining means includes a series ofrespective spurs on each said inner face opposite one another; andwherein said member support means includes a lateral notch below eachsaid head end such that respective said spurs pass through respectivesaid notches as said head is pushed off of said supports.
 5. A systemfor the vertical display of information as claimed in claim 3 whereineach said toothed rack further includes a series of pegs, each said pegof one said toothed rack extending horizontally from a respective saidhorizontal edge toward a corresponding said peg on the other saidtoothed rack such that said pegs form said supports and said retainingmeans.
 6. A system for vertical display of information as claimed inclaim 1 wherein said head comprises a substantially horizontal surfaceprovided at an upper end of said inclined surface; and wherein saidsupports and said retaining means comprise a series of spurs on eachsaid slideway, each said spur of one said slideway extending outwardlyfrom a respective said slideway toward a corresponding said spur on theother said slideway such that said head ends rest on said spurs andrespective said side edges are retained by associated said spurs.
 7. Asystem for the vertical display of information as claimed in claim 6wherein said substantially horizontal surface is slightly slanteddownwardly toward a remainder of said inclined surface.
 8. A system forthe vertical display of information as claimed in claim 2 wherein saidhead has an ovalized cross-sectional shape with a lower thinned portionwhich forms said inclined surface.
 9. A system for the vertical displayof information as claimed in claim 8 wherein said head includes anintegral clip for fixing a document having the information thereon tosaid display member and a handle for actuating said clip.
 10. A systemfor the vertical display of information as claimed in claim 2 whereinsaid inclined surface is connected to said display surface.
 11. A systemfor the vertical display of information as claimed in claim 10 whereinsaid inclined surface includes a notch located below each said head endof said head.
 12. A system for the vertical display of information asclaimed in claim 10 wherein said head is a substantially horizontalsurface provided at a top edge of said inclined surface.
 13. A surfacefor the vertical display of information as claimed in claim 12 whereinsaid substantially horizontal inclined surface is slightly slanteddownwardly toward a remainder of said inclined surface